Compensation & Benefits

Office gift-giving: 4 tips to make the season bright

12/05/2014

With holiday gifts to employees, good intentions can quickly turn into sticky situations.

Rival manufacturers partner on emergency fund for employees

12/05/2014

Rival recreational vehicle makers Forest River Inc. and Thor Industries can agree on one thing: Businesses need to be there for their employees during times of need. So the two largest employers in Elkhart, Ind., have joined forces to create and jointly fund the Forest River/Thor Community Foundation, which will provide grants of up to $20,000 to employees of either company during emergencies.

Holiday scheduling for 2015: Compare your closing plans

12/04/2014

Is your organization offering too many (or too few) holidays off work for your employees? To compare your closing plans with those of other U.S. employers, review these findings of the 2015 Holiday Schedules survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) …

Final regs clarify excepted benefits for ACA purposes

12/04/2014

So-called excepted benefits—limited-scope dental and vision benefits—are exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s requirements to provide affordable group coverage that provides minimum value. Final ACA regulations modify those benefits, and add long-term care benefits and certain employee assistance plans into the excepted benefits category.

New rule on white-collar overtime pay pushed back to February

12/02/2014

Look for the Department of Labor to release a new proposed rule for paying overtime to white-collar workers in February 2015, a roll-back of the department’s original, self-imposed November deadline.

Know which ‘personal’ injuries qualify for workers’ comp

12/01/2014

Be on the lookout for employees who try to pass off personal injuries as being job-related. Challenge workers’ comp claims in such cases.

December 2014: Employer’s business tax calendar

11/28/2014

This is your monthly guide to critical payroll due dates.

Benefits: Should we put details in the employee handbook or the Summary Plan Description?

11/27/2014

Q. Should a small business employee handbook include a safe-harbor clause under the benefits section for their 401k plan? In the past, the benefits information in the handbook has been limited because it can change so often. Instead, the handbook just points the employee to the summary plan documents.

The ‘Ghosts of W-2s Past’ need haunt you no longer

11/27/2014

It’s officially Payroll crunch time. The Social Security Administration is cracking down on employers that submit W-2/W-3 forms with errors … but you already have everything organized and ready to go, right?

If employees are absent the day before or after a holiday, can we withhold their pay?

11/26/2014

Q. Our employee handbook states that if employees are sick before and after a holiday and they do not get a doctor’s note, they will not get paid for those missed days. Is this legal?